“It can’t be that you get up next morning and forget everything” - Suryakumar Yadav admits World Cup final loss will hurt for a while
Team India batter Suryakumar Yadav has admitted that the Men in Blue will need some time to get over the painful loss in the 2023 World Cup final. He stated that things cannot go back to normal immediately, but asserted that, at the end of the day, life goes on.
India went down to Australia by six wickets in the 2023 World Cup final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday. Sent into bat first, the hosts were restricted to 240, a total the Aussies gunned down in 43 overs.
Suryakumar will be leading a young Indian team against Australia in a five-match T20I series, which begins in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. At a press conference ahead of the series, the 33-year-old opened up on the pain of losing the World Cup final.
“It is difficult. It will take time. It can’t be that you get up next morning and forget everything that happened. It was a long tournament and obviously we would have loved to win,” the batter said.
“But then, as you say, when you get up in the morning, there is sunrise again, light at the end of the tunnel. You have to forget it, it’s a fresh team. New boys, fresh energy, so we are really looking forward to this T20I series,” Suryakumar asserted.
Looking back at the positives from the ODI World Cup campaign, the aggressive batter described it as a very good journey, which was enjoyed not just by the players, but by fans and family members of cricketers as well.
“It is obviously a little disappointing, but, at the end, when you look back at the campaign, it was a really good journey. Each and every member, not only the players, the support staff, all of India and all of our families were very proud of the way each and every one displayed their talent on the ground," he said.
"That was the positive - the brand of cricket which we played throughout the tournament and we can be very proud of that,” India’s captain for the T20I series against Australia stated.
On a personal note, Suryakumar had a disappointing 2023 World Cup, managing only 106 runs in seven innings at an average of 17.66.
“Let’s be very selfless” - Suryakumar’s message to youngsters
Suryakumar will be leading a young side in the T20I series against Australia. Apart from him, Ishan Kishan and Prasidh Krishna are the only other members of the World Cup squad who have been picked for the T20Is.
Asked what message he has given to the young players, the 33-year-old quipped:
“I am also young yaar.” On a serious note, he added, “I have always told them that you have to keep the team first. Let’s be very selfless when you go onto the field. I am a guy who doesn’t think too much about personal milestones.”
Suryakumar has played 53 T20Is, scoring 1841 runs at an average of 46.02 and a strike rate of 172.70, with three hundreds and 15 fifties.